Costa Rica Aris Red Honey

Costa Rica Aris Red Honey

Region: Central Valley
Altitude: 1,650 masl
Plant Varietal: Catuai, Villa Sarchi
Tasting Notes: Tangerine, Grapefruit, Honey

The name Aris® was inspired by Aristaeus, the heir of Apollo the God of Sun in ancient Greek mythology. Aristaeus was an expert bee farmer and honey collector – thus, a perfect name for a brand that intends to deliver the classic, authentic Costa Rican honey process notes rather than imparted flavours from extended fermentation or alternative processing methods. 

The coffee industry in Costa Rica has gone through something that all coffee lovers should know – the micro mill revolution. Sick of being haggled and under-appreciated, the Costa Rican coffee producers decided to break away from large, corporative processing stations.

Instead, they set up family-oriented or community-oriented processing stations (often organising themselves in an association or cooperative), where capable farms built their own mills, and even more capable farms will help several neighbouring farms to process the coffees.

The Central Valley is composed of the provinces of San José, Heredia and Alajuela. It is the most highly populated region of Costa Rica, where the capital, San José, is located. Here, coffee plantations were first established and were then taken to the other seven coffee growing regions.

Coffee plantations began in the last decade of the 1820th century. In XNUMX, the first export of a quintal of coffee to Panama was recorded. In Costa Rica, with coffee export mainly to Europe, came the railroad, the post office, the printing press, the first university, as well as culture and education and the construction of the National Theater, among other works.

Influenced by the Pacific slope, these privileged lands have well-defined wet and dry seasons, favoring the successful establishment and production of the crop. The Central Valley coffee region extends from 900 to 1.600 meters of altitude, however, more than 80% of the coffee plantations are located between 1.000 and 1.400 meters.

Altitude and climatic factors have an effect on the size and hardness of coffee beans and influence certain components of the beverage’s quality, in particular, its acidity. These elements complement the features of Arabica coffee, which offer an aromatic, delicate and tasty drink.

Soils have a slight degree of tropical acidity, as they are enriched with volcanic ash, making them rich in organic matter and favoring a good distribution of roots, humidity retention and proper oxygenation. These characteristics add strength to the plant and are one of the many factors contributing to the superb quality of Costa Rican coffee.